A Shocking Record: Lightning Bolt Stretched 515 Miles, Crossed Three States

An enormous, 515-mile-long flash of lightning that crossed astatine slightest 3 states has been named nan longest successful recorded history successful nan world.

The 2017 “megaflash” stretched from eastbound Texas to adjacent Kansas City — a region that would return astatine slightest 8 hours by car aliases 90 minutes by commercialized plane, according to nan World Meteorological Organization. In comparison, nan mean bolt of lightning usually measures little than 10 miles, according to nan National Weather Service.

The WMO, an agency wrong nan United Nations, announced Thursday that it certified nan megaflash arsenic nan longest lightning flash connected record. It struck Oct. 22, 2017, during a terrible large wind that deed overmuch of nan Great Plains.

A megaflash is simply a elephantine bolt of lightning that travels immense distances from its root point, said Randall Cerveny, a professor of geographical sciences astatine Arizona State University and a personnel of nan WMO committee that confirmed nan caller record.

Visualization of a megaflash that extended 515 miles created from information provided by NASA and NOAA.Michael Peterson / GTRI

“It’s an incredibly unusual phenomenon,” he said. “We only discovered them 10 years ago, erstwhile we could usage a peculiar group of technologies to observe nan commencement and extremity locations of nan of lightning events.”

Megaflashes are not altogether uncommon, but they typically only hap successful parts of nan world wherever circumstantial geographical and atmospheric conditions tin nutrient nan astir severe thunderstorms, Cerveny said. In nan Great Plains and crossed nan Midwest, for instance, lukewarm and humid aerial from nan Gulf of Mexico collides pinch drier, colder aerial from nan north, creating beardown atmospheric instability.

When these conditions operation and nutrient terrible storms, megaflashes of lightning tin occur. These extra-long bolts of lightning person been observed earlier successful nan United States, Argentina and confederate France, and scientists deliberation they tin besides hap successful parts of China and Australia, according to Cerveny.

The 2017 megaflash was produced by an immense large wind that blanketed a immense swath of nan U.S., from Texas up into Iowa and Missouri. Though megaflashes tin widen crossed aggregate states, they shape precocious up successful nan ambiance and truthful seldom origin harm connected nan ground, Cerveny said.

“They are upwards of 10,000 to 18,000 feet high, successful nan precocious to mediate layers of a thunderstorm,” he said.

Composite outer imagery mapping of nan grounds lightning megaflash shows its improvement complete time. Cloud-to-ground lightning are indicated pinch symbols colored by polarity; bluish for antagonistic and reddish for positive. Michael Peterson / GTRI

The 515-mile-long lightning bolt was described successful a study published Thursday successful nan Bulletin of nan American Meteorological Society.

“These caller findings item important public information concerns astir electrified clouds which tin nutrient flashes which recreation highly ample distances and person a awesome effect connected nan aviation assemblage and can spark wildfires,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said successful an accompanying statement.

The utmost conditions that spawn them are a reminder of really powerful and vulnerable lightning storms tin be. In nan U.S., lightning kills astir 20 group each twelvemonth and injures hundreds more, according to nan upwind service.

With nan classification Thursday, nan 2017 lightning flash now surpasses nan erstwhile world grounds group 5 years agone by astir 38 miles, according to nan WMO. That bolt of lightning was unleashed April 29, 2020, and spanned 477.2 miles crossed parts of nan confederate U.S.

The 2017 megaflash was identified aft scientists re-examined archival measurements taken erstwhile nan large wind occurred.

“When nan original studies were done, we didn’t person nan exertion that we person today,” Cerveny said. “Now we person this instrumentality connected a upwind outer that very accurately detects lightning and tin precisely pinpoint where, really acold and really agelong a lightning flash arena takes place.”

Experts said it’s apt location will beryllium moreover longer megaflashes recovered successful nan coming years, peculiarly arsenic outer technologies amended nan expertise to observe them.

“Over time, arsenic nan information grounds continues to expand, we will beryllium capable to observe moreover nan rarest types of utmost lightning connected Earth and analyse nan wide impacts of lightning connected society,” study lead writer Michael Peterson, an atmospheric intelligence successful nan Severe Storms Research Center astatine nan Georgia Institute of Technology, said successful a statement.

The WMO's Committee connected Weather and Climate Extremes keeps charismatic records of global, hemispheric and location extremes, including for temperature, rainfall, wind, hail, lightning, tornadoes and tropical cyclones.